Monday, December 04, 2006

Writing in the New Statesman (hat tip: Sharp & Sound), Artemy Troitsky (pictured, left) describes "The Russia I lost." Troitsky is known as Russia's "first Rock & Roll DJ" who later became a Russian TV producer and is the author of several volumes of Russian rock music history. The New Statesman refers to him as "Russia's best-known cultural journalist." He once said: "John, Paul, George and Ringo have done more for the fall of Communism than any other Western institution."

In Soviet times, to challenge the state was to risk one's freedom and one's life. But is it any different now in the new world of oligarchs and opulence? Here, Russia's best-known cultural journalist, Artemy Troitsky, fears for his country's future

At least in Brezhnev's time you knew where you stood. We had no illusions. Public life was black and white. Censorship was overwhelming. Journalists wrote under instruction and according to the social and political orders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Now, in the new Russia of sushi bars and oligarchs, the situation is more shameful and rotten than it was then. The attempted assassination of Alexander Litvinenko might not be all that it seems, and yet it does fit a pattern. It follows only a few weeks after the murder of my good friend, the campaigning journalist Anna Politkovskaya. There have since been other, less publicised, cases. Another investigative reporter, Fatima Tlisova, was poisoned two weeks ago in north Caucasus; on 18 November the former head of security in Chechnya, who had fallen out with the region's prime minister, was gunned down in the centre of Moscow in broad daylight by Chechen and Russian police. And then this . . . the mysterious poisoning of Litvinenko (in a sushi restaurant, naturally), but this time in the centre of Russia's second city, London.

Litvinenko, a one-time colonel in the FSB, the successor to the KGB, was part of the inner team of Boris Berezovsky - Russia's most notorious oligarch, media tycoon and the most prominent member of the infamous "Yeltsin family". Ironically, it was Berezovsky who first suggested to Yeltsin that the then unknown ex-KGB officer Vladimir Putin should succeed him as president. Bad Vlad, however, has shown no gratitude towards his sponsor and promoter, and got rid of Berezovsky shortly after being enthroned, forcing him to emigrate and seek political asylum in swinging London. This is where Litvinenko came into the story, fleeing to Britain after announcing that he had been instructed to assassinate Berezovsky. Even though the revelation did not sound particularly convincing, Berezovsky has long been considered, inside and outside Russia, to be Putin's most powerful enemy.

And what a "model" enemy Berezovsky is: spooky-looking, neurotic, bad-mannered, possessing all the qualities of a classic vaudeville villain or James Bond adversary - and Jewish on top of that! Still, I have little doubt that there is some kind of secret protocol between Putin and Berezovsky, allowing the latter to make scary statements about taking the Kremlin by force (for the benefit of state propaganda), while enjoying the cosmopolitan life of a paper tiger.

Somehow, then, I don't think the poisoning of Litvinenko, a mere pawn in Berezovsky's game, is linked to any dangerous disclosures. I tend to agree with those who suggest that this was, most probably, an act of revenge by the FSB - an organisation that considers punishing traitors a basic principle. No matter how exotic or pragmatic the motivation was behind the attempt to finish off another dissident, one important conclusion must be made: it is too early (or too late) to write off the cold war as last century's joke, retreating into obscurity in the face of the al-Qaeda threat.

Democracy is on the retreat in Russia, from the nationalistic rhetoric and sub-superpower gestures of its leaders to the energy threats of Gazprom, to the millions poured into European soccer clubs. Now, instead of black and white, we have different shades of grey. In the media, self-censorship is in vogue. Journalists know what is good for them to write, and what is not. In an increasingly materialist society, they depend on the authorities' goodwill to keep them in their luxury lifestyles. They deliver the goods, convincing themselves that Putin - in the face of threats from afar - is the lesser of evils.

As for myself, half a year ago I stopped posting difficult items on my website, Diversant Daily, feeling tired and uninspired. Or was it fear? Unlike Politkovskaya, I have never been attacked and have not received death threats. Instead, I would receive friendly advice. "Art, you're the leading music critic in the country. Why don't you stick to what you do best and drop this hopeless political criticism?" My response was always, "I'll do what I want." As a result, I found myself blacklisted, like some time ago when I was invited to a celebrity edition of Russia's equivalent of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? I agreed, the producers were thrilled - after all, who wouldn't want to donate a million roubles to an orphanage? But hours before recording, I was told that the bosses had changed their minds and considered me "not the right person".

I took this with humour and self-irony. I try to convince myself that I have stopped writing about politics, not out of fear but because the subject is no longer interesting. I am not sure. What I do know is this: it is demoralising to write the same things over and again, to no effect. It is demoralising to realise that among Russia's silent majority Putin is genuinely popular and there seems no way of waking these people up. Most depressing, however, is that the so-called democracies of the west are turning a blind eye. One day, messrs Blair and Bush, the Germans and the Italians, will regret that.

Affiliations

About La Russophobe

We are a team blog, and our content is the work of many talented people. Our fearless leader is Kim Zigfeld, a Pajamas Media blogger (Publius Pundit) and a Pajamas Media Russia correspondent. You can join us! You may e-mail La Russophobe with comments or submissions for publication consideration at larussophobeATyahooDOTcom. You can also find us on FACEBOOK.
This blog quotes from source material, and links to it. When a post contains quotes and original material, the quotes are in black and the original in red. See welcome post for copyright notice.

LR Wants YOUR Opinion

Are the people of Russia worth risking your life for?

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Supporting La Russophobe

La Russophobe does not solicit or accept financial support from any source. If you would like to show your support for LR and your opposition to the rise of dictatorship in Russia, there are three easy ways to do it. (1) Click on the following Technorati banner, create a Technorati account (it's free, fast and easy) and favorite this blog with it. (2) Digg or Delicious or StumbleUpon one of our posts. (3) LR welcomes your e-mail comments and submissions for publication at the address above.

PUTIN MUST FREE THE NEMTSOV WHITE PAPER!

That craven coward Vladimir Putin is censoring the brilliant, courageous and patriotic research of former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov reviewing Putin's record in office. We demand this outrage cease immediately. Read the paper in English PDF here. The HTML version (can be cut and pasted) is here.

Tell All the Truth

Tell all the truth but tell it slant,Success in circuit lies:Too bright for our infirm delightThe truth's superb surprise.

As lightning to the children easedWith explanation kind,The truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blind.

-- Emily Dickinson

Alone

From childhood's hour I have not beenAs others were, I have not seenAs others saw, I could not bringMy passions from the common spring.From the same source I have not takenMy sorrow, I could not awakenMy heart to joy at the same tone,And all I loved, I loved alone.Then in my childhood, in the dawnOf a most stormy life was drawnFrom every depth of good and illThe mystery which binds me still:From the torrent, and the fountain,From the red cliff of the mountain,From the sun that 'round me rolledIn its autumn tint of gold;From the lightning in the sky,As it passed me, flying by,From the thunder, and the storm,And the cloud that took the form(When the rest of Heaven was blue)Of a demon in my view.

YouTube Russia (Video Will Appear at TOP of Page when Clicked -- Scroll UP After Selecting)

Play Hangman

La Russophobe

Girl Power: Ginger Rogers could do everything Fred Astaire could do . . . backwards, and in high heels.

Pioneer Power: Though he painted more than 1,000 works of art in his lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh sold only two.

Mark Twain: "It's a man with very little imagination who can only spell a word one way."

Socrates: "To be is to do." Sartre: "To do is to be." Sinatra: "Do be do be do."

Girl Power: On May 14, 2006, a perfect game was pitched in the Oakfield, New York Little League. Perfect as in 18 consecutive strikeouts. The pitcher's name? Katie Brownell. She's the only female player in the league.

Girl Power: On April 13, 2007, the Independent reported that women will soon be able to produce sperm cells from their bone marrow, making men obsolete.